As big business begins to take over a post-Civil War America the market begins to change for people. Companies big and small strive to dominate their field of expertise, and some fail. The companies that tend to win are the ones who begin to monopolize their sector. The corporations would then form trusts to expand their control of companies and the market. Some states tried to halt the form of trusts, yet businesses ignored state laws. For instance, “There are five hundred Missouri corporations that have ignored the law” 1. With companies failing to comply with State legislature the Federal Government intervened. The intervention led Ohio Senator John Sherman to conceive and implement the Sherman Anti-Trust Act as a Federal Act. However, The Sherman Anti-trust Act did not provide a firm and coherent understanding of what is deemed illegal activity within the Act. Large corporations such as Northern Securities Company, E.C. Knight Company, and the Standard Oil Company soon find out how the vague and open-ended Act does not have a solid definition of what is illegal.
Footnotes
1 National Archives. “Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890).” National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, 2022. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/sherman-anti-trust-act.
Credits
Richard Scheich